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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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167 records · Page 10

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DOE OSTI2024

EMP Testing of NAE Magnetic Motor Starters

Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) performed a high-altitude nuclear electromagnetic pulse (HEMP) critical generation station component vulnerability test campaign with a focus on high-frequency, conducted early-time (E1) HEMP for the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER). This report provides vulnerability test results to investigate component response and/or damage thresholds to reasonable HEMP threat levels that will help to inform site vulnerability assessments, mitigation planning, and modeling calibrations. This work details testing of North American Electric (NAE) magnetic motor starters to determine the effects of conducted HEMP environments. Motor starters are the control elements that provide power to motors throughout a generating plant; a starter going offline would cause loss of power to critical pumps and compressors, which could lead to component damage or unplanned plant outages. Additionally, failed starters would be unable to support plant startup. Six industrial motor starters were tested: two 2 horsepower (HP) starters with breaker disconnects and typical protection equipment, two 20 HP starters with breaker disconnects, and two 20 HP starters with fused disconnects. Each starter was placed in a circuit with a generator and inductive motor matching the starter rating. The conducted EMP insult was injected on the power cables passing through the motor starter, with separate tests for the generator and motor sides of the starter.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

NASA NTRS1984

Metal vapor arc switch electromagnetic accelerator technology

A multielectrode device housed in an insulator vacuum vessel, the metal vapor vacuum switch has high power capability and can hold off voltages up to the 100 kilovolt level. Such switches can be electronically triggered and can interrupt or commutate at a zero current crossing. The physics of arc initiation, arc conduction, and interruption are examined, including material considerations; inefficiencies; arc modes; magnetic field effects; passive and forced extinction; and voltage recovery. Heating, electrode lifetime, device configuration, and external circuit configuration are discussed. The metal vapor vacuum switch is compared with SCRs, GTOs, spark gaps, ignitrons, and mechanical breakers.

Mongeau, P. P.↗

NASA NTRS1981

Liquid immersion apparatus for minute articles

Apparatus is disclosed for immersing minute integrated circuit chips in an etching solution in manufacturing integrated circuits during research and development. The apparatus includes a holder, having a handle and basket support for carrying a removable unitary basket and lid structure where fluid flow-through passages are formed, and wherein graduated openings in the handle provide for adjustably supporting the basket in a breaker at a desired level.

Belcher, J. G., Jr.↗

DOE OSTI2023

PV Inverter Systems Enabled by Monolithically Integrated SiC based Four Quadrant Power Switch (4-QPS) [BiDFET]

The purpose of this project was to develop a new breed of Power Conversion Systems (PCS) for PV integration that is enabled by the newly developed 4-Quadrant Single Die SiC Power Semiconductor Switches (4-QPS) or also referred to as “Bidirectional FET (BIDFET)”. This work includes semiconductor die development, advanced packaging, converter design, development, and testing of 4-QPS enabled hardware prototypes at 1 kW (for single phase residential application) and 10 kW (for three phase commercial application). The BiDirectional Field-Effect Transistor (BiDFET) can enable circuit topologies requiring four-quadrant switches, that were earlier designed using discrete combinations of MOSFETs, IGBTs, GaN HEMTs, and PiN diodes. The monolithic nature of the BiDFET allows lower device count, smaller switch volume, lower inductance, and simpler packaging, and hence more reliable and commercially viable implementation in power electronics converters. The matrix converter topologies, now feasible using BiDFETs, can eliminate the bulky and unreliable dc link capacitors or inductors required for conventional voltage-source or current-source converters in ac–ac and ac–dc applications. The 1.2 kV BiDFET has the potential to disrupt all the applications utilizing 1.2 kV switches, including electric vehicle (EV) drivetrain, bidirectional EV chargers, industrial motor drives, solid-state transformers, datacenter power supplies, elevator drives, dc microgrids, energy storage grid integration, solid-state breakers, etc.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

DOE OSTI2023

Power Conversion Systems Enabled by SiC BiDFET Device

The BiDirectional Field-Effect Transistor (BiDFET) can enable circuit topologies requiring four quadrant switches, that were earlier designed using discrete combinations of MOSFETs, IGBTs, GaN HEMTs and PiN diodes. The monolithic nature of the BiDFET allows lower device count, smaller switch volume, lower inductance, and simpler packaging, and hence more reliable and commercially viable implementation in power electronics converters. Furthermore, the matrix converter topologies, now feasible using BiDFETs, can eliminate the bulky and unreliable dc link capacitors or inductors required for conventional voltage-source or current-source converters in ac-ac and ac dc applications. The 1.2 kV BiDFET has the potential to disrupt all the applications utilizing 1.2 kV switches, including electric vehicle (EV) drivetrain, bidirectional EV chargers, industrial motor drives, solid-state transformers, datacenter power supplies, elevator drives, dc microgrids, energy storage grid integration, solid-state breakers, etc.

42 ENGINEERING↗